Corporate Advocacy Program: The best way to manage and repair your business reputation. Hiding negative complaints is only a Band-Aid. Consumers want to see how businesses take care of business. All businesses will get complaints. How those businesses take care of those complaints is what separates good businesses from bad businesses.

October, 14, 2004, my husband and I just purchased a new home, (Oct. 04. 2004), totally new to the area. A man, Ken Beauchemin, representing Vector Security/Command Central Security showed up at our door and made us feel insecure about our area. He went so far as to mention the high crime rate in our area and how much more secured we would be if we purchased this security system.

Yes, I agree with anyone, we should have done our research, but he was very good at convincing us as to the crime rate and what we'd risk loosing if we did not choose to protect ourselves. He allowed us to ask questions during our converstation...one of the main questions I asked, was how long would we be obligated for if we found we were not satisfied with the system service.

He said, for three years and then you can cancel without any penalties. What he failed to mention was that after three years, you would need to put a cancellation request in writing 30 days prior to the third year anniversary of the date our system was put in. Because we failed to do this, it appears that our contract has automatically renewed for another three years.

If we choose to cancel now, we would need to pay 80% of the total cost for three years. Keep in mind, there is no one in the area that has suffered any loss due to theft and burglary. I think the true criminal is Vector Security/Command Central Security who pray on the innocent victims who are gullible enough to put their trust in Vector Security/Command Central Security, Inc., representative or salesperson.

It fails to surprise me that even the representatives don't know exactly what their contract states. I was actually shocked that it took three different phone calls for someone to say that we would have to wait three years to cancel without any penalty.This is what the contract states...

"Renewal: This agreement shall automatically, without action by either party, renew under the same terms and conditions for successive periods equal to the initial period unless either party gives to the other at least 30 days written notice, prior to expiration date, of intention to terminate this agreement upon any expiration date or, in the event this renewal provision is not effective for any reason whatsoever, this agreement shall automatically renew from month to month unless either party gives to the other at least thrity (30) days written notice of intention to terminate at the expiration of any such term."

Because this one paragraph was a bit confusing to me, I called and asked what exactly does this mean, and the representative said she did not know, that she would need to contact a "specialist," I received a return phone call and was told that in the state of NY that this was created because it is illegal to renew the agreement the same way it would automatically renew in NC. I can not tell you how happy I truly am that our homeowners insurance contract is NOT handled in the same way. We would be out of a house and a home.

Corporate Advocacy Program: The best way to manage and repair your business reputation. Hiding negative complaints is only a Band-Aid. Consumers want to see how businesses take care of business. All businesses will get complaints. How those businesses take care of those complaints is what separates good businesses from bad businesses.

AUTHOR: Ginger - (U.S.A.)

SUBMITTED: Friday, May 16, 2008

POSTED: Friday, May 16, 2008

Sachie failed to mention that as soon as she contacted her sales rep (Ken Beauchemin) he immediately contacted the Vice President of Vector to see what could be done to help her. He was able to negotiate a one year renewal instead of the three year renewal outlined in her contract and since Sachie was over six months into the additional year the cost to terminate her contract (if she desires) will be minimal. Mr. Beauchemin would have liked to see Vector allow her out with no cost but since he is not an employee of Vector did the best he could to mitigate her costs.

It is also important to note the three year auto renewal clause is no longer in the current monitoring agreement Vector uses. This is why Vector's customer service had some difficulty in helping Sachie when she initially called. The contract was rewritten several years ago and in order to assist her a copy of her original contract signed in 2004 had to be ordered from Vectors off site storage company.

Mr. Beauchemin has been involved in the security industry for over ten years and has been affiliated with Vector security for the past four years. Any crime statics he quotes have been obtained from the Onslow County Sheriff's department and other local law enforcement officials. He is licensed by the Attorney General of North Carolina and strictly follows all guidelines issued by the North Carolina Alarm Licensing Board.

Mr. Beauchemin currently works for Power Home Technologies, Inc. (who aquired Command Central Security in July of 2006) an authorized Vector dealer located at 129 Seth Thomas Lane, Suite 1, Swansboro, NC 28584 910-325-0024.

Corporate Advocacy Program: The best way to manage and repair your business reputation. Hiding negative complaints is only a Band-Aid. Consumers want to see how businesses take care of business. All businesses will get complaints. How those businesses take care of those complaints is what separates good businesses from bad businesses.